United Gamer Online (UGO)

by: Chris Morris
While professional video gamers may still struggle to be thought of as athletes by the general public, they're starting to see paydays that are on par with some of today's sports stars.

Major League Gaming, the largest of the so-called eSports gaming leagues, wrapped up its 2010 season Sunday, handing out some $700,000 in prizes to joystick jockeys.

With that kind of money at stake, this is more than a trash-talking tournament among friends. Teams practice year-round to prepare - with some players making this a full-time job.

Team Final Boss was the big winner in this year's finals, narrowly beating Team Instinct in "Halo 3" for a $100,000 purse and the title of MLG League Champions. (Both teams were highly ranked and had already wracked up $80,000 in wins earlier in the 2010 tour.) All totaled, teams playing "Halo 3" shared a purse valued at almost $250,000.

Final Boss, a four-person squad, which was previously sponsored by Washington Wizards basketball player Gilbert Arenas, is gaming's equivalent of the New York Yankees. It has been winning "Halo" tournaments since 2004 and previously boasted an unbeaten eight-event streak. Players have come and gone through the years, but the strength of the team has rarely wavered.

"Halo 3" is the main event of MLG these days, but it's hardly the only game in town. The championship event also featured the first "Halo: Reach" competition - a game that's likely to become the centerpiece of the event in years to come. (This was the final year that "Halo 3" will be played in MLG tournaments.)

For now, though, "Reach" is still in its infancy - competitively, at least - and the winning pot demonstrates this. The winner of the exhibition tournament - Team UoR SyA - took home just $5,000, despite going undefeated through 11 rounds.

Players also competed for cash and bragging rights in "Tekken 6," "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" and most notably "Starcraft II".

"Starcraft II" is kind of a big deal in the competitive gaming world. The original remains a national obsession in South Korea, with two television stations regularly airing matches. The release of the sequel this year could reinvigorate the game in domestic tournaments. "LiquidJinro," a Swedish-born player who now lives in Korean, took home the first place title and $6,250 in winnings.

Throughout the 2010 season, over 100,000 pro and amateur eSports athletes from around the world have competed in challenges in Orlando; Columbus, Ohio; Raleigh, NC; Washington, DC and Dallas.

In its eight-year history, Major League Gaming has attracted a significant amount of attention, with tournaments being broadcast on cable's USA Network and ESPN.com. Its goal is to elevate competitive video game tournaments in the national consciousness to the same level as Poker and Nascar.

"The incredible atmosphere and intense level of competition at our 2010 national championship event has been unprecedented", said Sundance DiGiovanni, co-founder and CEO of Major League Gaming. "We look forward to embracing even more formidable gaming talent in our 2011 season."

by Ben Silverman

October 12 11:44 A.M.

"Music games are dead!" they say. Oh yeah? Well, apparently "they" just turned down the volume, because a chorus of new rhythm games are showing up just in time for the busy fall video game season. Unlike standard games, they often come with high price-tags and goofy peripherals, making it hard to just scoot out and grab one on a whim. Which of the following games will be music to your ears, and which will have you running for earplugs? That depends a lot on you, actually.
For the Aspiring Musician...

Rock Band 3

Release Date: 10/26

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii
Athletes love sports games and brainiancs dig strategy sims, but ask a musician to play a music game and there's a good chance they'll scoff and mumble something about it "not being real." Here's your chance to shut them up. Though Rock Band 3 touts a songbook's worth of notable updates, upgrades and tweaks, its biggest trick will bring gamers and rockers together at last. Built in conjunction with professors at the Berklee School of Music, "Pro Mode" is an included guitar-training tool that will actually teach you how to play for real. It won't come cheap -- you'll need to pick up an awesome new guitar controller (two models, each sold separately, each pretty pricey) to get the most out of it -- but compared to guitar lessons, it's a steal. And if guitar isn’t your thing, you can also play Pro Mode on both drums and the game's new keyboard peripheral.




For the Hardcore Talent...

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

Release Date: Out now

Platforms Xbox 360, PS3, Wii




It might not be the best-reviewed game in the storied franchise's catalog, but if you've got epic music game skills and are itching to flex them, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will sound just about right. In addition to a story-driven solo mode that culminates with a trip through Rush's classic "2112" record and a scorching battle with metal masters Megadeth, a new Quickplay+ mode adds thirteen new achievements to every song. With over 90 tracks on the game disc, that's over 1,000 challenges out of the box. Yikes. It's also more competitive than other music games, packing loads of multiplayer insanity perfect for those who consider themselves serious music game pros.


For the Clubbing Connoisseur...

DJ Hero 2

Release Date: 10/19

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii

There's a reason why the original DJ Hero was the top-selling new video game property of last year: it's awesome. And if you're a fan of mash-ups, turntables and getting the party started, it's the only music game you should give a hoot about this year. Not only does it pack an all-new single player game and 83 new mash-ups from nearly as many artists, but it throws in microphone support for singing or rapping along to the mixes. If you already have a turntable controller, you won’t need a new one, but adding a second lets you take on other virtual DJs in a new suite of competitive modes. Unlike Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you actually feel like you're making the music here, not just playing along with it.


For the Wannabe Rap Mogul...

Def Jam Rapstar

Release Date: Out now

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii

Sad that rock gets all the love in most music games while rap gets downgraded to random tracks? Then Def Jam Rapstar is the game you've been waiting for. Sporting the famed Def Jam license, it boasts 45 tracks to rap along with -- from old-school hits like A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario" to newer cuts from the likes of Kanye West and Lil' Wayne -- as well as 15 straight beat tracks for some freestyle flowing. But best of all, it nails hip-hop's strong sense of community by letting you record yourself rapping (provided you have a compatible console camera), edit the clip and upload it for a shot at in-game fame. Don't hate the playa -- love the game.


For the Air Drummer...

Power Gig: Rise of the Six String

Release Date: 10/19/10

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3

Considering the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, music game newcomer Power Gig has a lot to live up to. And while the bulk of it will feel pretty similar to those titles, a few features stand out. One is the inclusion of a legit guitar -- no plastic instrument here -- that can even be plugged into a real amp and used to gig. The other? A drum-less drumset. Rather than clutter your living room with more cumbersome gear, Power Gig's "AirStrike Drum" uses special sensors to detect where you're swinging the customized drumsticks. No bulky drum heads, no cymbals -- just a bunch of invisible beams shooting out of a flat pad lying on the ground. A space-conscious music game? Who woulda thunk it?


For the Dancing Queen...

Just Dance 2

Release Date: 10/12

Platforms: Wii


More of a mover than a crooner? Then you'll probably want to pick up Just Dance 2 for the Wii. The sequel to last year's multi-million seller will let you and up to seven friends dance along to over 40 pop tracks, but it also includes a 'Just Sweat' mode that will gauge your calorie burning along the way.

September 24 3:21 P.M.

Understatement of the year: the latest Halo game is a hit.

Having cracked the $200 million mark on its first day of release alone, Halo: Reach has already proven that there's plenty of life left in the hallowed Halo name. And just to drive home the point that their game is a big, big deal, developer Bungie has released some pretty awe-inspiring numbers the game managed to, uh, reach during its launch week.

Over 70 million online matches were logged, with players putting in nearly 6,000 years worth of time shooting at each other. When they weren't doing that, they uploaded over 2 million files and completed about 20 million daily challenges. And it wasn't all for naught, as they earned a whopping 165 billion in credits to spend on new armor.

Despite all that activity, though, Reach still came up short in one key area. According to Xbox's Major Nelson, Reach was only the second most played game Xbox Live during its launch week. The first? None other than last year's blockbuster shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has remained a staple atop the Xbox Live chart pretty much since its release. Coming in third was Halo 3, giving Bungie a nice consolation prize.

There's another silver lining, too. Major Nelson points out that Reach has been the most popular game over the past seven days, meaning Modern Warfare 2's chart supremacy will likely come to an end soon.

But we wouldn’t count Call of Duty out for long. The next game in that franchise, Black Ops, hits stores on November 9, setting the stage for another epic battle between the two first-person heavyweights.

by Andrew Groen, GamePro.com
We reach out to respected professionals in the scientific community including jet pack engineers, plasma researchers, mechanical engineers, and the scientific advisor on Battlestar Galactica to get at the truth behind the fiction.

With six video games, an animated series, several graphic novels, and six printed novels Halo is perhaps the richest and fullest science-fiction universe ever spawned from a video game. It's also home to some of the most inventive science-fiction we've ever seen. But we wanted to see how much of this universe stands up to scrutiny. So with the help of respected scientists we're putting Halo: Reach under the microscope.
Jetpacks

A new addition to the series, jet packs feature prominently in Reach's multiplayer. But a fully equipped Spartan weighs over half a ton! The armor and equipment weigh around 1000 pounds. Add in the weight of the enormous, genetically engineered behemoth inside and you could easily be in the range of 1250 pounds...not including the weight of the jet pack.

Could a back-mounted chemical propulsion system reliably and accurately launch this hulking mass of steel and bullets?

"Yes," said Nino Amarena, CEO of Thunderbolt Aerosystems which engineers and manufactures real, working private jet packs. "It would be possible to build a rocket motor that could lift that weight for short periods. But the pilot would also need to carry the load [of the jet pack] and the required fuel."
"Weight is the most significant issue, not just for launching the soldier into the air, but for keeping the Chief a nimble Covenant-killing machine on the ground."
Not only that, but Amarena says landings could be accurate to within two feet.

Weight is the most significant issue, not just for launching the soldier into the air, but for keeping the Chief a nimble Covenant-killing machine on the ground. Seeing as the Chief can jump nine feet in the air we're guessing a couple extra hundred pounds wont be an issue.

The most beneficial factor for the Spartan is the MJOLNIR armored plating and shields. This would allow them to use far more volatile and powerful rocket fuels than would be possible with an unaided pilot, substantially cutting down on fuel weight.

Verdict: Plausible



Plasma Rifles

The staple of the covenant armory is the famed SPARTAN-shield demolishing plasma rifle. We wanted to learn a bit more about what plasma is, and why aliens are using fluorescent light bulb technology to destroy us, so we contacted the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for further explanation.

"Plasma," explained Patricia Wieser, a representative of the laboratory, "is the fourth state of matter. It's a hot, electrically charged gas." But the term "gas" is merely a convenient descriptor. The ionized state of a plasma can lead it to behave quite unlike any other form of matter.


"Plasma is the fourth state of matter. It's a hot, electrically charged gas."
-Patricia Wieser, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory representative

They are characterized by their ability to be highly charged with electricity and their reaction to magnetic fields. Due to these qualities they can be moved or aimed in beams. Lightning is an example of a highly excited form of plasma that exists on Earth.

Harnessing plasma in a handheld form is not out of the question. In 2005 the US military stated it was developing a controversial new weapon based on plasma research. The weapon was non-lethal and could fire a laser from up to two miles away, creating a plasma reaction when it hit something solid (like a person.) This in turn creates an electromagnetic pulse that triggers pain neurons without damaging bodily tissue. The stated purpose of this weapon was to induce maximum pain in rioters.

Verdict: Possible

Glassing a Planet

The Covenant's favorite means of dispatching enemy worlds is a process referred to as "glassing." This is a type of orbital bombardment that so thoroughly destroys the planet that its surface is literally turned to glass.

We've already found that plasma can be harnessed and fired in beams by magnetic fields, but the real question is whether it's realistic to say that a plasma could burn through the metals that populate a planet's surface.

"Plasmas are used to melt metals all the time. For example, plasma torches can cut steel plates, and arc furnaces can melt tons of scrap steel. Plasmas can have a temperature much higher than the melting point of any solid. It can melt anything."
-Patricia Wieser, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory representative

According to the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, this is entirely possible. "Plasmas are used to melt metals all the time," said Wieser. "For example, plasma torches can cut steel plates, and arc furnaces can melt tons of scrap steel. Plasmas can have a temperature much higher than the melting point of any solid. It can melt anything."

Although plasma's melting capability is unmatched, it takes a large amount of energy to heat the plasma to a degree that it can melt those metals. Using it to destroy the entire surface of a planet would require truly ridiculous amounts of energy. Especially considering the plasma would need to be beamed hundreds of miles down to the planet's surface.

So while there's nothing theoretically impossible about this, the energy storage necessary for the Covenant to not only fly across the galaxy (and back home again) but then destroy an entire planet would require technology the likes of which we can't even see glimmers of today.

Verdict: Improbable

Megastructures

While humanity and the Covenant can't construct these enormous structures, their predecessors, the Forerunners most certainly did. Their crowning achievement was a working Dyson Sphere. A Dyson Sphere is essentially a bubble of satellites orbiting a star, completely enveloping it and absorbing all of its energy output.

Deep inside the artificial planet of Onyx, the Forerunners concealed a "slipspace rift" which provided millions of miles of space inside an area which appeared, in normal space, to be only a few meters.

Inside of this slipspace rift was a habitat containing a Dyson Sphere around a star similar to our sun. This makes for fascinating sci-fi, but it's all for nothing if a Dyson sphere can't power their civilization.
"Not only would a Dyson Sphere require titanic amounts of energy, but finding the amount of mass that would yield a structure with sufficient structural integrity would prove challenging."
-Dr. Kevin Grazier, scientific advisor for Battlestar Galactica


Fortunately, there's nothing inherently impossible about a Dyson Sphere, in fact theoretically humans could start building one today. There is a major problem though. For it to work, the orbit must be at least as far as the Earth's, with a radius of around 93 billion miles. Some mathematicians say that creating an Earth-orbit sized Dyson Sphere 3 meters thick would take the cumulative mass of our entire solar system. To say nothing of the beating it would take from asteroids and comets.

"Not only would a Dyson Sphere require titanic amounts of energy," said Dr. Kevin Grazier, the scientific advisor for Battlestar Galactica, "but finding the amount of mass that would yield a structure with sufficient structural integrity would prove challenging."

Verdict: Improbable

by Mike Smith
Nintendo’s iconic mascot Mario has sold over 240 million video games, been heralded as gaming’s most recognizable face, holds seven world records -- and he’s passing another huge milestone this week.

According to Nintendo themselves -- and they ought to know -- the game that put Mario on the map turns 25 this week. Released on September 13, 1985, NES great Super Mario Bros. would quickly become the top-selling video game of all time, a title it would hold right up until last year when it was passed by Wii Sports.

Since then, he’s appeared in hundreds of games, enjoyed careers as a doctor, an archaeologist, a racing driver, and a golfer, and helped establish the Nintendo name as almost synonymous with video games themselves.

So what’s next for this gaming superstar? Retro-styled 2009 blockbuster New Super Mario Bros. Wii continues to sell well, landing at 6th place on the U.S. charts last month. Given Nintendo just trademarked a new Mario logo in Japan bearing the legend “Super Mario Bros. Anniversary," we doubt this gaming icon is going to retire any time soon.

Five things you (possibly) didn’t know about Mario

* Mario’s last name is also Mario. He’s Mario Mario, in fact.
* His first appearance was actually in 1981 in the arcade version of Donkey Kong, where he was known as “Jumpman.” He wouldn’t get his official name until the following year’s Donkey Kong Jr., also the only game where he plays the bad guy.
* Not only is Mario the best-selling video game character of all time, he’s also its most prolific: according to Guinness World Records’s 2008 edition, he’s appeared in 116 separate games.
* Mario’s distinctive high-pitched voice is provided by actor Charles Martinet, who also voices Mario’s brother Luigi and his longtime foe Wario.
* Nintendo released a follow-up to Super Mario Bros. in Japan in 1986, but deemed it too difficult for Western audiences. It wouldn’t hit U.S. shores as a standalone title until 2007, as a Wii Virtual Console title dubbed “Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.”

by Chris Morris
While ads in video games may not be popular, they are effective.

A new study by Nielsen finds that targeted advertising can result in a substantial increase in sales – and that could spur companies who have been sitting on the fence to jump into the gaming world.

The study looked at in-game Gatorade ads in six EA Sports titles, including the last two installments of the company’s “NHL” franchise and the 2007, 2008 and 2009 versions of “NBA Live”. People who played those games increased their household dollars spent on the sports drink by 24 percent.

That’s a result most advertisers would kill for – but the implications aren’t great for gaming fans.

While players are more accustomed to seeing ads in games these days, they don’t necessarily like them. Recent Xbox 360 thriller “Alan Wake,” for example, was loaded with brand name products, including Verizon, Ford, Duracell and Energizer. And it earned the scorn of players, who felt the product tie-ins were a little too forced and obvious.

At retail, the game tanked, selling fewer than 200,000 units by the end of July. And while it’s impossible to determine how much of that was the fault of the blatant product placement, it’s impossible to rule it out as a factor.

Sports titles tend to get a little more leeway with gamers. Since ads are so fully integrated into both the real world and broadcast sporting experience, video games can double down on advertising opportunities -- as EA’s “Madden” does each year. But sometimes, even those can go too far.

Beyond being (let’s face it) an ad for the NFL itself, “Madden NFL 11” is filled with billboards in every stadium. That’s not nearly as distracting as the fact that virtually every major action on field carries a sponsorship with it, such as the “Swagger” statistic -- which determines the likelihood of the player to celebrate after a touchdown -- sponsored by Old Spice.

Nielsen’s study isn’t the first to underscore the effectiveness of in-game ads. After debuting its Bing search engine in June 2009, Microsoft promoted the Google-competitor in a series of games, including “NBA 2K10” and “DJ Hero”.

After their first exposure to the ads, the percentage of gamers visiting and searching Bing increased by 108 percent, according to Microsoft. In fact, two-thirds of the gamers who visited Bing after seeing the ad were visiting for the first time.

The recall rate of Microsoft’s ads was a surprisingly high 71 percent – and, according to the company, 60 percent of the gamers it spoke with said they had a more positive opinion of Bing after seeing the brand in a game.

Not every publisher has embraced in-game advertising yet, but if demand begins to outstrip supply, it’s likely a few will change their policies. 2009 and 2010 have been rough years for the video game industry, and publicly traded companies that turn down a lucrative income source will have investors calling for blood.

The trick to preventing a backlash among players comes down to two things: moderation and contextual placement. “Madden’s” willingness to grab ad dollars is documented above, but regardless of frequency, the ads have to make sense. A player exploring a mysterious world in another galaxy, for example, doesn’t want to see a Coke machine. In-game advertising almost died before it had a chance to take off since select publishers ignored those factors. Over time, the industry has become more disciplined, leading to the current revival.

Gamers may never fully embrace embedded ads, but no one thought it would work with television audiences, either. And look how big that ad market turned out to be.

by Mike Smith
September 9 11:31 A.M.

Starting this week, the Wii won’t be the only game console touting a motion control system. Sony’s Playstation Move hits stores on Sept. 17, bringing a new range of controllers and an accompanying selection of motion-enabled games to the Playstation 3. We've spent some quality time with the system; since we're guessing you've got questions, here are a few answers.
How is this different than the Wii?

In theory, it’s not. This is Sony’s response to the Wii’s success; Microsoft’s, named “Kinect,” will be out later this year.

But Move is considerably more advanced than the four year-old Wii control system. In addition to a suite of gyroscopic motion sensors, Move can employ head-tracking, voice recognition, and positional tracking of the controller. It’s unquestionably more accurate, more sensitive, and more high-tech...but in the end, it’s all about getting you playing games that have you jumping about in front of your TV.

Like the Wii.


What do you need to get started?

At the very least, you’ll need one Move controller -- the one with the colorful sphere on the end -- a Playstation Eye camera, and a Move-compatible game. Coincidentally, that’s exactly what Sony is offering in its main Move bundle, which includes a controller, a camera, and flagship game Sports Champions. If you want to get the most out of the system, though, budget another $50 for a second Move controller. Some games work best with one in each hand, to say nothing of the two-player possibilities.

If you’re the type who has to have everything, Sony’s also selling what it calls a “Move navigational controller," though it’s really just a trimmed-down Playstation pad that fits in one hand. It doesn’t have motion sensing capabilities, but it is just right for controlling games like first-person shooters. There’s also a charging station that’ll fit two Move controllers, although they also charge over USB just like a regular PS3 pad.


How much is it?

The basic Move bundle -- which we recommend, unless you already have a Playstation Eye camera -- costs just shy of $100. Separately, one Move controller retails for $50, while the optional navigational controller is $30. Most of the launch games are $40.


How do you set it up?

It won’t take long: if you can set up a Wii, you can set up Move.

Tuck the camera either above or below your TV, pair the controllers with your PS3, and, uh, you’re done. Every time you play, you’ll have to do a brief calibration dance -- hold the controller up by your shoulder, down by your side, point it at your belt buckle, do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around -- but that’ll be second nature in no time.

Why does it have a glowing ball on the end?
For starters, because it looks cool. Of course, there's a bit more to it than that.

The camera uses that glowing orb to pin down the controller’s location in 3D space. It lights up when the controller’s in use in a color that will best stand out against the background, which helps greatly with its accuracy. Additionally, some games can flash the ball different colors to give you feedback. One thing to note: if you get your body between the controller and the camera or do anything else that obstructs its view of the glowing ball, you’ll confuse the system.



How well does it work?

Remarkably well. If you’ve been disappointed by the Wii’s sensitivity with sword-fighting games like Red Steel, Sony’s system is what you’ve been waiting for. Compared to the Wii, it’s seriously impressive how sensitive Move is to even the smallest of motions. There’s no perceptible lag, and none of that characteristic wobbliness of the cursor you see on the Wii. In short, Move is the real deal; it delivers on the promise of motion control in a way the Wii has never managed.

By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang, Ap Entertainment Writer – Fri Sep 10, 4:12 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Since fans lined up at midnight nearly three years ago for the release of the last "Halo" video game, a recession struck the economy, President Barack Obama took office and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" became the best-selling shooter game of all time. When the prequel "Halo: Reach" debuts Sept. 14, it will land on a very different world.

"Halo" achieved status as a cultural phenomenon in 2007 with Master Chief, the armored hero of the original trilogy, adorning french fry wrappers, soda cans and a race car. The sci-fi shoot-'em-up saga became a cash cow for Microsoft Corp., spawning novels, toys and apparel, and boosting sales of Xboxes, the only consoles where "Halo" can be found.

"It's among the elite video game franchises," said NPD gaming industry analyst Anita Frazier. "It's among the Top 20 of all video game properties with relatively few releases compared to some of the other franchises. 'Halo 2' and 'Halo 3' are both among the Top 20 games ranked on total unit sales, and the original 'Halo' is among the Top 50 games."

However, in the three years since Master Chief was put to bed by Bungie Studios, much has changed along the gaming landscape, especially in the popular shooter genre. "Call of Duty," the aging war simulator from Activision Blizzard Inc., reclaimed hardcore gamers' attention with the contemporary "Modern Warfare" series from developers Infinity Ward.

"The game that's going to suffer from fatigue the most is 'Call of Duty' because everybody played that a year ago," said Wedbush Morgan gaming industry analyst Michael Pachter. "They haven't seen a brand new 'Halo' game in three years. I think three years between iterations is actually just enough time to get people excited about playing 'Halo' again."

It probably won't be enough to gun down the latest chapter in the recharged "Call of Duty" franchise though. Pachter anticipates that over 6 million copies of "Reach" will be sold this year, on par with the 2007 sales of "Halo 3," while he predicts that over 12 million copies of developer Treyarch's "Call of Duty: Black Ops" will be sold by year's end.

"This is the first time we've ever had a 'Halo' game with any real competition," he added.

"Reach" is slated to be the last "Halo" entry developed by Bungie Studios, which signed an exclusive 10-year deal earlier this year with Activision to publish and distribute a series of games for various platforms. The deal marks Bungie Studios' first partnership since breaking off in 2007 from Microsoft, who retains the rights to the "Halo" universe.

"It could've been a game we phoned in," said Marcus Lehto, creative director at Bungie Studios. "It could've been our last game, and we just said, 'OK! This is our last "Halo." Goodbye!' We didn't want to do that. You'd think we're crazy, because we went back and decided that the 'Halo 3' engine wasn't capable of accommodating the vision we had for 'Reach.'"

Lehto and his team have slipped into a different, more personalized direction with "Reach." Instead of personifying genetically enhanced Spartan super-soldier Master Chief, players become Noble Six, a mysterious new member of the Noble Team, a group of hardened Spartans tasked with deterring The Covenant alien force from obliterating the planet Reach.

"One of the things we wanted to do with 'Reach' is to allow players to truly invest themselves in their Spartan character, and make their own unique Spartan," said Lehto. "When you first put in the disc to play 'Reach,' you will be prompted to begin that customization process and continue to customize your character as you continue to play."

Noble Six can be a man or a woman and outfitted with hundreds of different armor, color and emblem combinations, as well as grab special gadgets like jet packs, invisible camouflage and holograms along the way. Lehto hopes that more chances for players to fashion their character means this "Halo" game will reach beyond just young male shooter fans.

The intergalactic protagonist also has a past as a pilot, providing players with the opportunity to take to the skies — and beyond — for the first time in a "Halo" game. Lehto said the team at Bungie Studios packed as many such dramatic moments into the single-player campaign and amped up the multiplayer mode knowing that this would be their last "Halo."

"We really never anticipated it becoming this big," said Lehto. "There was so much responsibility on our shoulders to make sure that 'Reach' is the best of all the 'Halo' games. We put every bit of effort we could into this game. While we're happy that it's done, and we're proud of what we created, we're really sad to say goodbye to the 'Halo' universe."

___

Online:

http://halo.xbox.com

By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz, Ap Technology Writer – 1 hr 15 mins ago

SEATTLE – Thursday marks the kickoff of the 2010 NFL season, and along with it, a renewed interest in fantasy leagues and video games that let Monday-morning quarterbacks feel as if they're part of the action.

The perennial champ of the genre, Electronic Arts Inc.'s "Madden," has already made its debut this year as a free Facebook application.

An underdog contender, Quick Hit Inc., has joined the fray with "Quick Hit NFL Football." It lets players pick an NFL team and coach it through the season.

Quick Hit's game came out in beta test form last October, but without the official NFL teams, logos, uniforms and other touches. By January it had racked up 1 million users; the company will only say players now number "in the millions."

Both "Quick Hit NFL Football," a standalone game played in a Web browser, and "Madden NFL Superstars," the Facebook game from EA, are part of a growing trend of online games that are free to play but sell extra, optional items for small amounts of money.

Quick Hit's updated game brings color commentary from former longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, plus the ability to pay a few bucks extra to snag famous players or playbook additions. There are only five current NFL players available to add to rosters, the most Quick Hit could include based on its licensing agreements. People can choose among more than 100 past "legends" to round out their teams.

For people willing to pay for a "pro" membership — $5.99 per month, $29.99 for six months or $47.99 for a year — Quick Hit's updated game also adds such perks as new "camera angles" to give the game a more three-dimensional feel. The free version only offers a bird's eye view of the field.

In addition to its browser-based game, Quick Hit said it's working on a Facebook version, which should be available sometime this year.

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press Writer Tomoko A. Hosaka, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 45 mins ago

TOKYO – Battling its Japanese gaming rivals on their home turf hasn't been easy for Microsoft Corp. Its Xbox 360 game console runs a distant third in sales here behind Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console and Nintendo Co.'s Wii.

But the Seattle-based company is armed with a new weapon — its new controller-free Kinect game technology — that it hopes will convince Japanese consumers to embrace the Xbox 360.

The company introduced the highly anticipated Kinect to the Japanese media Wednesday, touting its ability to broaden the Xbox's appeal to the entire family.

Once known as Project Natal, Kinect stretches the concept of motion capture that propelled the Wii's global success. But Microsoft eliminated the controller completely. Kinect relies instead on a camera system that recognizes gestures and voices, enabling players to control on-screen avatars in action and sports games simply by moving their own bodies.

"All you have to do is play (Kinect), or watch people play it," said Takashi Sensui, head of Microsoft's home and entertainment division in Japan. "It's nothing you've seen, and it's a brand new experience that I think a lot of people will be attracted to."

Until now, the Xbox has been known as the device to play hard-core shooter games such as "Halo." In the U.S., Microsoft ranks second in console sales after Nintendo, just ahead of Sony.

Microsoft has some catching up to do in Japan. As of last week, it had sold some 150,000 Xbox 360 console this calendar year, according to Media Create Co., a Tokyo-based gaming market research company. Nintendo sold about a million Wii units during the same period, while Sony sold just under a million.

Sensui said Kinect would help Xbox close the sales gap and maybe even surpass rivals "eventually."

Microsoft said Kinect will launch in Japan on Nov. 20. It has previously announced that its global launch will begin Nov. 4 in North America, followed by Europe on Nov. 10.

Microsoft will release 10 Kinect-compatible games by the end of the year in Japan, including a brain-training game that requires players to use eye-brain-body coordination to answer various math and game puzzles. The game was developed with Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, who appears in a popular series of brain- training video games that drove sales of the Nintendo DS.

Kinect will be sold bundled with the Xbox or as a stand-alone system, which can be connected to existing consoles. It will cost $150 in the U.S. and 14,800 yen in Japan.

Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft's games division, is scheduled to speak next week at the Tokyo Game Show, where the company is expected to make additional announcements.

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 46 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Military bases across the U.S. have banned the sale of a new video game that lets a player pretend to be a Taliban fighter and "shoot" U.S. troops.

"Medal of Honor" by Electronic Arts, a major game developer based in Redwood City, Ca., hits stores Oct. 12.

But after public protests, including one by British Defense Secretary Liam Fox, U.S. military officials decided not to stock the game in any of the nearly 300 service exchange shops on bases across the country.

Gamers are scoffing at the decision, saying that advanced technology has made it commonplace in the gaming world to let a player switch sides and play the bad guy.

With Sony's Move due out on September 19 and Microsoft's Kinect not far behind, the motion-control war is nearly upon us. But while we sincerely hope these motion-based peripherals are truly a thing of the future, gaming's past is littered with failed attempts to take the buttons out of play. Grab a joystick before proceeding -- we get the feeling you're going to need it.

Nintendo might be the current king of motion-control, but they spent years as the court jester thanks to the awful (and awesome) Power Glove. While it looked like all kinds of cheesy fun, its rickety motion-control tech barely worked. Making matters worse, only two games specifically built for the Glove were ever released, quickly turning it into more of a failed curiosity than a must-have. Its one credit? Spawning the so-bad-it's-good Fred Savage flick, "The Wizard."


Amiga was responsible for this odd Atari 2600 peripheral, which let players control a game by shifting their weight, much like the Wii Balance Board. Trouble is, it worked with just one game -- Mogul Maniac -- which was forgotten just as quickly as this revolutionary device.




It might earn huge style points for its Star Wars-meets-laptop look, but make no mistake: the U-Force was a total bust. Players would wave their hands to interact with infrared beams criss-crossing the controller's field, which sounds super cool. Unfortunately, all the force in the world couldn't get gamers to buy into its broken gimmick.


A decade before Dance Dance Revolution kickstarted the exergaming craze, Nintendo gave gamers the Power Pad. Too bad gamers weren't quite ready to shape up. Boasting 12 pads for players to stomp on, the gizmo was definitely ahead of its time, but a lack of compelling software sent it to an early grave.

Sega Activator -- Sega Genesis

Excited about Kinect's promise of controller-free gaming? Heed this word of warning: Activator. Released as an add-on for the Sega Genesis, the octagonal pad used infrared beams to read your movements, which mostly involved punching and kicking at thin air. Sadly, it barely worked, leading to immediate deactivation by disgruntled gamers.

Konami Laserscope - NES
Featuring voice-activated control that seemed to constantly malfunction, the Laserscope was a bad idea from the start. Still, the fact that gamers were supposed to strap this goofy gun to the top of their heads at least freed up their hands to do other things...such as picking up the phone and calling the store to ask for a refund.

Roll ‘n Rocker - NES
Everyone loves Rock 'n Roll, but no one loves the Roll 'n Rocker. Essentially a large plastic board sitting on a slightly smaller plastic ball, the rickety device was intended to act as a giant D-pad. Instead, it terrified those trying to balance on it -- and with a 100 lb. weight limit, it mostly just terrified children.

The Glove - PS One
Eight years after the Nintendo Power Glove made a mockery out of motion-control, along came Reality Quest and their creatively named "The Glove" peripheral for the original Playstation. Covered in confusing buttons but boasting full-on analog motion-control, it failed to resonate with gamers, partly because they were just coming to grips with the excellent Playstation controller. The other reason? It sucked.

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business Writer – 2 hrs 8 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Some years back, investment banker Carter Pilcher stumbled across some really good short movies made by a few talented friends, and the money-making and artistic sides of his brain suddenly clicked.

The idea was to buy rights to those shorts cheaply from wannabe filmmakers who sought fame more than fortune. He figured he could make a business by showing them to new audiences for just the right price.

"I just felt like I'd discovered a part of the world of content that didn't take a lot of money to create but was really riveting," said Pilcher, a 49-year-old American who was working in London at the time and still has his office there. "In 10 minutes, you're in tears, or you're shocked, or you laugh really hard."

Pilcher gave up his career in finance to pursue the idea. With his own money and help from family and friends, he started what has become Shorts International, a company that now runs subscription TV channels that show shorts in six countries to about 12 million homes. That's not a lot of homes for a channel although he hopes to expand its reach. AT&T Inc.'s U-verse video service began carrying ShortsHD in the U.S. last summer and Dish Network Corp. did so in April.

While giving thousands of filmmakers a potentially huge new audience, Shorts International won't necessarily make them rich. Its licensing fee — a few hundred dollars over several years — is not enough to transform what is a money-losing venture for most filmmakers.

But his business adds to the many outlets that are now trying to make money from their work.

"It's a fair price," Pilcher said. "What's even more important: We're giving filmmakers a chance to be seen."

For filmmakers, making short movies is a kind of necessary proving ground. No one walks into a director's job at a Hollywood studio without a track record. For many, it's either lose money making your own short or fetch coffee as a production assistant and try to rise through the ranks.

Tarique Qayumi, a Los Angeles filmmaker who is trying to sell the company his short, "Last Supper," called the few hundred dollars in payment "ridiculous" given the hours he invested and the favors he pulled to give his movie a professional look and feel despite its $3,000 budget. Yet if such a deal is offered, Qayumi said he "would grudgingly sign."

"I just want as many people as possible to see my film, so I really don't have any bargaining power," Qayumi said.

A few filmmakers whose shorts are being featured on the channel say that making them has had a career-changing impact, even if the movies lost money.

Mark Osborne went from teaching at the animation school CalArts to directing DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Kung Fu Panda" after his stop-motion animation short about worker drones, "More," won an Oscar nomination in 1999. The movie has yet to recoup its $100,000 budget but it was more than worthwhile, he said. "I always tell everyone, 'Make shorts, make shorts, make shorts.'"

"Shrek" director Vicky Jenson added a twist to her animation-heavy career by making the short "Family Tree" in 2003. The mystical, humorous short littered with personal references gave her the experience directing real actors that she lacked. It led to a directing job for a live-action feature six years later. "It was my own personal director's camp," she said.

For at least one major studio, shorts can be a way to develop new moviemaking techniques and nurture talent while keeping employees on the payroll.

Pixar was a struggling imaging device company in the 1980s, but its early shorts helped pioneer the current golden age of computer-generated animation. Formative shorts such as "Tin Toy" helped spawned the colossal "Toy Story" franchise and the company sold for $7.4 billion to The Walt Disney Co. in 2006.

"It's a great opportunity to give people a chance to exercise those creative muscles on something that isn't a beast like a multimillion-dollar movie," said Kevin Reher, Pixar's development producer in charge of ancillary franchises. The unit continues to make new shorts that debut before every Pixar movie.

Very few filmmakers actually make a living creating shorts.

Animator Bill Plympton, a pencil-toting evangelist for the art form, has three iron-clad rules for those who want to make a living from shorts: Make them short (five minutes or less), make them cheap, and make them funny.

He sells a wide variety of products, cuts TV deals, sells DVDs and doesn't rely on online advertising.

"If you can get the budget down to less than $5,000 then you can make it," he said.

Film festivals, such as the LA Shorts Fest in Los Angeles or Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nev., still provide a forum for new artists, but most filmmakers pay to have their material screened. A handful of filmmakers receive token fees for appearing. "For the most part, there's no money in it," LA Shorts executive director Bob Arentz said.

Services such as YouTube's Screening Room and Atom.com depend on Internet advertising to support shorts, but the revenue is often too small to cover the costs of making one.

Apple Inc.'s iTunes store offers shorts for sale, but few filmmakers sell more than token numbers.

Scott Roesch, general manager for Viacom Inc.'s humor site, Atom.com, said making shorts provides artists with a way to keep their creative pumps primed.

"We have creators who'll do standup, they'll do work in feature films and television. They'll create Web videos. It all adds up to not only a good living, but a diverse slate of projects that keeps them going creatively."

And in a sign that the shorts business may be gaining traction, Shorts International has gotten the backing of media mogul John Malone's international cable TV business, Liberty Global Inc. Although its 2008 investment is for a minority stake, its connections in the industry could provide Shorts International with greater distribution going forward.

ShortsHD's audience is still too small to measure, but Pilcher expects it will eventually be large enough to sell advertising, which should help it build its library beyond the 3,000 titles it has licensed so far.

"Our hope is to be able to pay a volume of filmmakers so that lots of people will at least be able to recoup some of the costs of their film," Pilcher said. "Our hope is that in the next 10 years, people will stop spending all this money on 'longs' and start spending on shorts."

Ghost stories aren't just for Halloween; some people enjoy getting the living crap scared out of them year round. For those who fit into that category, there are a few spooky television shows out there -- if you know where to find them.

From professional ghost hunters to people thrown into scary situations, read on to see our seven favorite freaky shows on TV right now.

1. 'Ghost Adventures'
Network: Travel Channel
Why It's Spooky: The trio of ghost hunters, comprised of Zak, Nick, and Aaron, investigates some of the most notorious and haunted places in the world. The detailed eyewitness accounts of these paranormal experiences make viewers feel as if they're actually on location with the ghost-hunting team. The interviews with local residents and historical experts add to the chilling nature of the show, explaining the history of the haunted places and some of the horrible deaths that occurred there.

2. 'Paranormal State'
Network: A&E (Arts & Entertainment Channel)
Why It's Spooky: This show features research conducted by university students from Penn State . It's particularly spooky because they take a more scientific approach when trying to provide evidence of an actual haunting or to solve some unexplained phenomenon. They film the entire process of their research, including the gathering of background information. They always explain the nature of any equipment used to measure and record paranormal activity, and later show the recorded footage. They also conduct interviews with the owners of the allegedly haunted homes before, during and after their findings.


3. 'Ghost Hunters'
Network: Syfy Channel
Why It's Spooky: Jason and Grant may be plumbers by day, but at night they take to haunted locations with their ghost-hunting team to collect evidence of paranormal activity. After founding The Atlanta Paranormal Society (TAPS), they resolved to help people understand the paranormal and to investigate any events that may be unexplained, no matter the location. This is the original 'Ghost Hunters' series. Spin-offs include 'Ghost Hunters Academy' and 'Ghost Hunters International.'

4. 'A Haunting'
Network: Discovery Channel
Why It's Spooky: This is one of the scariest shows chronicling eerie events that have occurred around America. The show is a dramatization of real-life events, but the way the stories are told are chilling, often involving suicides or murders that left a psychic impression on the location. Several people are interviewed throughout the show, discussing the energy they felt in the place and the legends and haunted history. After the hour is up, you're left with the complete story and a sense of amazement at how the dead can still have such an impression on the living.

5. 'Most Haunted USA'
Network: Travel Channel
Why It's Spooky: This show was originally adapted from the British television series of the same name. Paranormal investigators stay overnight at haunted locations to investigate unusual activity. They feature mediums and parapsychologists to sense whether there is a disturbing presence in a particular house or if there is something that needs to be communicated from the other realm. A historian is also there to provide facts about the location in question in case it reveals additional information about the unexplained events.

6. 'Ghost Hunters Academy'
Network: Syfy Channel
Why It's Spooky: It's a spin-off of the original 'Ghost Hunters' with two other members from TAPS heading the show. This time, however, they recruit people who wish to become ghost hunters and train them in the paranormal. It has a more amateurish element to it, but I believe that makes it scarier because the team is less experienced and more susceptible to being spooked by paranormal events. This show gauges whether some of these individuals have what it takes to be ghost hunters. Some will make the cut and continue on other 'Ghost Hunters' series, others will not.

7. 'Fear'
Network: MTV
Why It's Spooky: MTV's attempt to cash in on ghost-hunting reality shows reminded me of watching 'The Blair Witch Project.' You can see people were really freaking out at times, since they' weren't professional ghost hunters, but contestants who stayed overnight in a haunted house or other location where paranormal activity had been rumored to occur: penitentiaries, mental institutions and abandoned factories and hotels. While the show did sometimes feature psychics and stories of urban legends surrounding allegedly haunted locations, there was really no evidence to verify that supernatural activity actually occurred.

by Chris Morris
September 3 11:11 A.M.

Though the game has been presumed dead so many times you’d need an abacus to keep track, “Duke Nukem Forever” is very much alive – and he’s coming to store shelves soon.
Take Two Interactive Software pulled off one of the video game world’s biggest surprises Friday, announcing not only that the over-a-decade-in-development first person shooter was nearly finished, but backing that claim up by giving the 150,000 people attending the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle the chance to play the game.

The rest of the world will get its chance in 2011 – on the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

First announced in 1997, “Duke Nukem Forever” became an annual presence on vaporware lists and a running joke among gamers for its molasses-like development schedule and frequent restarts. A year ago, it appeared the final nail had been hammered into the game’s coffin, when developer 3D Realms ran out of money, let go virtually all of its employees and began a legal war with its publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software.

That suit was settled earlier this year, however. And while 3D Realms is no more, Gearbox Software, the studio behind “Borderlands” and “Brothers in Arms” (and staffed with a number of former 3DR employees), has taken over development on the game.

"Gearbox has enabled die-hard key Duke Nukem franchise builders and skilled veteran game makers to stand together and deliver,” said Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software. “All gamers deserve a happy ending and after all of us gamers feeling the full range of emotions about Duke Nukem Forever, I am thrilled to be in a position with the trust, power and means to make it happen.”

“Duke Nukem Forever” is, technically, a sequel to 1996’s “Duke Nukem 3D” - though normally a sequel takes no more than three years to put together, while “DNF” started in the Clinton administration.

The game missed ship-date after ship-date, and many began to assume it would never see the light of day. Many pointed to 3D Realms co-founder George Broussard as the reason for the delays – noting that his obsession with perfection for the title resulted in a never-ending cycle of changes.

The bad times are over now, though – and the game is nearing completion. And after 13 long years, some of the industry’s most core fans at PAX have finally gotten to see for themselves if the wait was worth it.

by Joe Dodson
September 1 1:37 P.M.
Even if you don't follow video games, you've probably heard of Metroid, or seen the intimidating orange power-suit worn by its protagonist. But did you know the bounty hunter inside is a woman named Samus Aran, one of the first heroines in the history of video games?

Created by Makoto Kano in 1986 for his action video game Metroid, Samus was originally intended to be a man -- until someone on the staff noted that it would be interesting to have players discover that they'd been playing as a woman the whole time. A vote ensued, and the “he” became a “she.”

A tough, alien-fighting heroine. Sound familiar? Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto took much inspiration from Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic Alien, even going so far as to name a recurring Metroid villain, space pirate Ridley, after Scott himself. Later, he’d compare Samus’s blonde-bombshell appearance to Kim Basinger’s strong good looks in movies like 9 1/2 Weeks and My Stepmother Is an Alien.

But who, exactly, is Samus? According to Metroid lore, she began life as a child on the mining world of K-2L when space pirates swooped in, killed nearly everyone, and destroyed the planet. The young Samus was rescued by an alien race known as the Chozo, who spirited her to their planet where they trained her into a great warrior and gave her the game’s iconic power suit.
From there, Samus briefly joined the Galactic Federation Police, though that story has yet to be told. After leaving the force, she only went on to become the most formidable freelance bounty hunter in the galaxy. Listed at 6'3" and 198 lbs (in her suit, of course), the formidable huntress splits her time between thwarting space pirates, combating mysterious aliens known as Metroids, and her ongoing pursuit of Ridley, the pirate who destroyed her world.

Along the way she somehow found time to fight in all three Super Smash Bros. games, and made cameo appearances in Super Mario RPG, Kirby Super Star, and Kirby's Dream Land 3. Her eleventh game, Metroid: Other M, arrived on August 31 for the Nintendo Wii -- and it’s the first in the line to be developed outside of Nintendo.

Other M, developed by the team behind the Ninja Gaiden series, places a unique focus on Samus's hand-to-hand fighting skills. The game also promises to delve ever deeper into its heroine's fascinating past, while paving the way for tomorrow's legendary exploits.

Posted September 1, 2010 3:31pm by Kevin Maney
Apple (AAPL) failed to make a case Wednesday that Apple TV could replace cable TV. Instead, it did something smarter: It introduced an Apple TV that consumers will want alongside their cable boxes.

Which, for the first time, is a winning strategy to get Apple on the big family room screen. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new Apple TV at the company’s press conference Wednesday, along with a new iPod Touch and a music-centered social network called Ping.

But the star of the show was Apple TV – a product that has so far been a glaring failure for a company that does so much right. Jobs even introduced the segment by saying Apple TV has been a “hobby” for Apple, and that the company has learned a lot about what consumers want.

So the new Apple TV costs $99 – nearly $200 less than the old Apple TV – and the box is the size of two iPhones side-by-side, about one-fourth the size of the previous version. In one shot, that makes Apple TV a no-brainer purchase for many consumers. The price is about the same as dinner for two and wine at a P.F. Chang’s, and the box won’t have to find a chunk of space amid all the DVRs, DVD players and video game consoles piled by the TV.
Big win for Netflix

The content has one killer app that matters: Netflix (NFLX) streaming. Yeah, Apple will sell streaming movies for $4.99, but you’d be a dope for paying that much. For $8.99 a month, you can watch unlimited streaming movies on Netflix (and still get DVDs by mail). If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can start watching a movie at home, and if you have to go to the kids’ swim meet, pick up where you left off and watch the rest from the bleachers.

Apple TV will also rent streaming TV shows from Fox and ABC for 99 cents. "We think the rest of the studios will see the light and get on board with us," Jobs said. That’s half the price of buying and downloading a show through iTunes or Amazon, and it brings the price down to an impulse buy. Instead of replacing cable and your DVR, just know that if you plunk down in front of the TV and are curious about “Cougar Town,” for a buck you can take that chance.
Ping is no match for Facebook
The rest of Jobs’ press conference was pretty underwhelming. Hard to imagine that Ping is going to set the world on fire. It acts sort of like Last.fm, allowing users to follow the listening habits of other users, and looks a little like Facebook. But it’s built into iTunes. Ping seems to be the one thing Apple got out of its purchase of Lala.com last year.

Otherwise, the new iPod Touch is basically an iPhone 4 without the phone – better screen, front-facing camera. A new Nano is half the size of its predecessor. The new Shuffle isn’t that much different from the old Shuffle.

Apple got those products right from the beginning. It’s interesting that Apple learned from its failures with Apple TV, and the company finally should win a place in the living room.

– 1 hr 27 mins ago

NEW YORK – Electronic Arts is bringing its popular "Madden" football game to Facebook. "Madden NFL Superstars" launches as a free application Tuesday.

The game lets players create fantasy teams featuring more than 1,500 current NFL players from this year's team rosters. The fantasy teams compete with one another on Facebook. Or, they can play against fantasy versions of the season's actual NFL teams.

Electronic Arts Inc. plans to make money from the game by letting players pay nominal amounts of money for better players and other game content. Those microtransactions are expected to add up, though the majority of players are expected to play the game without paying a dime.

"NFL Superstars," which comes a week before the football season kicks off, follows EA's "FIFA Superstars" soccer game for Facebook. That game has about 4 million players.

EA Sports President Peter Moore said the idea is to bring "Madden" to a broader audience beyond the fans of the console version, which sells about 5 million to 6 million units each year and can be complicated to play.

"NFL Superstars" was created by EA Sports and Playfish, the social game company EA bought last year for $275 million.

by Ben Silverman
Love playing your Xbox 360 games online? Join the crew...and please have your credit card handy, because Microsoft would like to have a word with it.

Specifically, the word "more."
On Monday, the company announced plans to raise the price of the Xbox Live Gold membership, making it the online network's first fee hike in its eight-year history. Beginning November 1, gamers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the U.K. will have to fork over at least $10 extra per year to enjoy the premium service, which is required for playing games with (or against) pals online.

In the U.S., the annual subscription plan -- once $49.99, soon to be $59.99 -- will remain far and way the most economical. The monthly plan will see a $2 bump ($9.99/month, or $120/year), while the three-month plan will jump $5 ($24.99/month, or $100/year).

Why the sudden hike? To Xbox Live spokesman Major Nelson, someone has to pay for all the stuff they keep adding to the network, right?

"Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same," he said. "We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry."

Well, that's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that Microsoft remains the only one of the big three console makers to charge a fee for online play. While Sony's recently-released "Playstation Plus" upgrade gives gamers access to premium content, playing games online is still entirely free for all users. And though the Wii has lagged behind in the online gaming field, the relatively few games that support online play don't cost players extra.

But with blockbuster multiplayer games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 selling like hotcakes on the 360, Microsoft hasn't had a hard time convincing users to pay up. According to Bloomberg, a good 25 million Xbox 360 owners went Gold in the last fiscal year, netting the company about $600 million in fees alone and accounting for roughly half of Microsoft's estimated $1.2 billion in revenue via the online service. With the Xbox 360 topping charts in July and surefire seller Halo: Reach arriving September 14th, the company might need to buy a bigger wallet.

It's not all doom and gloom for 360 gamers, however. In a half-hearted attempt to make amends for the rate increase, Microsoft is letting current U.S. Xbox Live Gold members lock in one more year of membership for $39.99, a $20 premium over the coming price. Not bad, but an even thriftier move is to snap up a few discounted pre-paid cards at online retailers like Amazon. Redeem one now, then save one for next year to renew at the discounted price again. Sneaky...and sure to vanish quickly, so hop to it.

by Joe Dodson
August 27 3:48 P.M.

Ever wonder who writes fakes user reviews on the Internet? So does the United States Federal Trade Commission, and they've found their first answer: Reverb Communications.
A high-profile public relations firm in the video game industry, Reverb Communications represents major clients like Harmonix and MTV Games, as well as their products, such as Rock Band. They also represent smaller studios that sell games through the iTunes Store, and that, according to The New York Times, is where they ran afoul of the FTC.

In a recently filed complaint, the FTC pointed out that Reverb's fee for representing clients' games "often includes a percentage of the sales of its clients’ gaming applications." In other words, Reverb has a financial interest in the sales of games it represents. With that established, the FTC claimed:

"From approximately November 2008 through May 2009, Reverb employees, including individual Respondent Tracie Snitker, and company managers, posted public reviews about Reverb’s clients’ gaming applications in the iTunes store. These reviews were posted using account names that would give the readers of these reviews the impression they had been submitted by disinterested consumers."

According to the FTC, Reverb employees posed as regular users and posted fake user reviews about their clients' games on the iTunes store. This is backed up, in the complaint, by a small sample of reviews the FTC claims were written by Reverb, including:

“Amazing new game”

“ONE of the BEST”

>“[Developer of gaming application being reviewed] hits another home run with [gaming application being reviewed]”>

“Really Cool Game”

“GREAT, family-friendly board game app”

“One of the best apps just got better”

“[Developer of gaming application being reviewed] does it again!”

The FTC withheld the names of the games that Reverb was reviewing, as well as the identities of the clients for whom they were posting reviews. They also stopped short of court, allowing Reverb to settle.

According to the New York Times, the PR firm "agreed to remove all of the iTunes reviews that appeared to have been written by ordinary people but were actually written by employees of the company." Reverb does not have to pay a fine, though the firm does have to make its interests clear in any future product endorsements.

Stacey Ferguson, a lawyer in the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said of the settlement "We hope that this case will show advertisers that they have to be transparent in their practices and help guide other ad agencies."

Reverb, on the other hand, posed the settlement in a different light, stating "Rather than continuing to spend time and money arguing, and laying off employees to fight what we believed was a frivolous matter, we settled this case and ended the discussion."

The FTC’s actions against Reverb are the result of new guidelines published in October of 2009, which are the first of their kind since 1980. Greeted with skepticism and dismay by many bloggers, it was feared that the new rules would enable the FTC to seek sanctions against any writer who reviewed products they received for free, a common practice in many industries.

By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle, Ap Entertainment Writer – Mon Aug 30, 2:02 am ET

Few places in broadcasting are more likely to exhibit an awkward relationship with social media than award shows. They have all tried various gimmicks, and those trotted out Sunday night by the Emmys fell flat.

There was reason to have hoped for better this time.

Hosting was Jimmy Fallon, an avid Twitter user with nearly 2.8 million followers and whose "Late Night" show has successfully embraced social media.

Award shows, too, have become thoroughly aware of the importance of social media. Ratings for award shows in the past year — the Oscars, the Grammys, the Golden Globes — have been up, and some have attributed the boost in viewership to the Internet. Many viewers follow the chatter online while watching the broadcast.

But while the initial reviews for the 62nd annual Emmy Awards have been mostly positive, the low point, some say, was the clunky insertion of Twitter to the NBC broadcast. Fallon gathered submissions from Twitter for introductions to Emmy presenters like Stephen Colbert and Jon Hamm.

One example, as read by Fallon: "Tina Fey: I'd hit that."

On Twitter — where one might have expected celebration — the reaction was largely negative.

"I feel like these tweets are selected with the intention of making Fallon look much funnier in comparison," wrote Lauren Angeline.

TV producer Tom Costello wrote: "Was the thought process behind the whole `Fallon reads tweets' idea that he would only read the dumbest ones submitted?"

Critics agreed. Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal wondered if Fallon's tweet reading was "NBC's contribution to an otherwise excellent show." New York Times critic Mike Hale went even further, pondering whether it was "proving something about the ultimate incompatibility of television and the Internet."

The Emmys other promoted attempt at interactivity was a backstage broadcast that aired at Emmys.com, NBC.com and Ustream.com. Cameras were positioned in places like the green room (where presenters wait before going on stage), the control room and the producer's table.

The results largely consisted of watching people watch the TV broadcast. You could see little more than Matthew Perry sitting and watching a monitor, or Tina Fey getting her hair done.

Previous award shows — especially MTV's Video Music Awards and Movie Awards — have experimented with something like this, but they're unlikely to provide much entertainment until an award show devotes itself to full transparency — and that's not likely to ever happen. Right now, any online bells and whistles are designed to merely funnel viewers to the broadcast.

The Emmys also employed a backstage "Thank You Cam" that doubles as online enticement and a bit of guilt relief for producers who quickly usher winners off the stage. The Academy Awards have done this, too, but the effect is slight.

Winners are mostly too dazed to even fathom the meaning of a "Thank You Cam," let alone gather their thoughts for a second acceptance speech. After accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy ("Glee"), Jane Lynch told the camera: "I just won the Emmy for ... what did I win it for?"

The "Breaking Bad" winning actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, took to the "Thank You Cam" together and treated it with little respect.

Cranston: "Do you have anything to be thankful of?"

Paul: "Your love, really."

Cranston, with mock sheepishness: "Not now."

As usual, the most effective Emmy interactivity came not from these official channels but the less-controlled instant commentary across social media, which continues to add another layer to the viewing experience.

Fallon and John Hodgman (who served as the broadcast announcer) tweeted before and during the show, frequently revealing candid and comical insight: a video documenting pre-show jitters, a photo of a Ricky Gervais' stand-in, and, of course, wise observations like this tweet from Hodgman: "That Tom Hanks is a nice gentleman."

by Terrence O'Brien on August 23, 2010 at 01:50 PM
We've dug our heels in as decidedly pro when it comes to the debate over whether or not video games are art. And, although we're not desperate for additional support, our argument has gotten a serious boost from Wabash College in Indiana. Wabash's incoming freshmen are now assigned the classic first-person puzzler 'Portal' as required "reading." Professor Michael Abbot pushed to have the game added to the curriculum for "Enduring Questions," a required seminar for all new students that acclimates them to critical readings and discussions in a college environment.

The game is being used specifically as a companion piece to Erving Goffman's 'Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.' After reading the landmark sociology tome, students will play through 'Portal' as an interactive illustration of the struggle over perception at the heart of 'Presentation.' Using a video game to augment the interpretation of a traditional text seems like an ideal way to ease both students and educators into the act of "reading" video games. In a blog post, Abbot says he considered including a game as a stand-alone assignment (as apparently 'Bioshock' was on the short list of candidates, too), but, in the end, decided to go with 'Portal' and 'Presentation' because they make "a good first impression." This is just one more feather in the cap of the video game, which, in just 40 short years, has gone from a type of mindless timewaster to a legitimate art medium, worthy of being taught in institutions of higher education. Check out our list of other games we think are perfect for college "readings" after the break.

More Games that Belong in the Classroom
FalloutFallout 3
'Fallout 3's' open ended game play and meticulously designed retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic world are just begging for serious examination of its questions about morals, discrimination and loyalty and offer plenty of opportunities for self exploration.
Hateris, First Person Tetris, Tuper Tario Tros.
Games like 'Hatetris,' 'First Person Tetris' and 'Tuper Tario Tros.' turn seemingly sacrosanct elements of our digital pop culture consciousness from enjoyable time wasters to exercises in futility. Is it art? Or is it just cruel?
Bloom, Electroplankton, Moondust
Generative music games like 'Bloom' and 'Electroplankton' deserve a home in both art and composition classrooms. Their pre-cursor, 'Moondust,' has even been displayed in art galleries.

Grand Theft Auto
The 'Grand Theft Auto' series draws so much attention for its moral ambiguity that it's easy to miss that it's more immersive and cinematic than most major motion pictures.


Ico
'Ico' helped kick off the video games as art debate back in 2001. The simple game play mechanics kept focus on the beautiful setting and compelling story.

ImmorTall
'ImmorTall' takes the passive, minimal game play and limited use of narrative in 'Ico' to it's logical extreme. You act only defensively to save a family trapped in some unidentified war-torn region.

Machinarium
The story in 'Machinarium' is told exclusively through pictographs. There are no written words and no spoken dialog. Yet thanks to its stunning art work and carefully constructed sequence the game is constantly compelling.

Bioshock
'Bioshock' raises serious questions about morality, community and individual freedom versus responsibility. And it does all this against the backdrop of a carefully crafted, Ayn Rand inspired underwater city.

Braid
'Braid' is, on it's surface, a simple puzzler and platformer in which you must save a princess from a monster. However, vague clues leave the true interpretation of the plot up for serious debate.

P0nd
We credited 'P0nd' with officially ending the are video games art debate sometime back and stand by it. We don't want to ruin anything about this stunning work, just go play it for yourself.


The Graveyard
'The Graveyard' is odd, short and honestly, barely a game. But there is no denying its originality.

by Josh Lowensohn

Last century's cash crops included tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane. Now we have magic cauliflower and super berries, too--and even though they can't be sold at market, some people still toil from dawn to dusk cultivating them.

People spend not just real time but also real money growing these crops in virtual farming games that combine the allure of both games and social networking in what is usually a cute and deceptively simple package. They can be addictive: many users come back at least once a day to micromanage their farms and deal with other users' requests.

On average, the users of these types of games are spending anywhere from a few minutes a game to the greater part of an hour. Indeed, one individual who CNET spoke with said that it's all she does between waking up and going to bed--and that's every every day of the week.

The companies behind these titles are raking in millions of dollars from people who toil on land that doesn't even exist, and that number continues to grow. A research report from eMarketer in June said social games generated more than $725 million last year in the U.S. alone and projected three times that revenue in 2011.

One of the most popular social-gaming titles is FarmVille, a game designed by San Francisco-based Zynga that users can play in Facebook and on iPhones. More than 63 million active users each month spend an average of 15 minutes a day in the game, Zynga told CNET News. Typical activities for these users involve planting and harvesting crops, reorganizing, and helping to tend friends' neighboring farms.

The game can be played for free, but players can get an edge by paying. Farm cash and farm coins can be purchased for anywhere from $1 to $50 in real money via credit card, PayPal, and Facebook's Credits currency platform. With the virtual money, people can accelerate play or purchase goods that otherwise would take longer to acquire. It's only for the most involved, though.

"The large majority of our players never pay anything to play our games," Zynga told CNET, and that those who do account for only a "small percentage."

One of those players in the small percentage we'll call Katie S. She told CNET her daily FarmVille routine consists of waking up around 10 a.m. and proceeding to play the game until well past midnight, though her sessions can often go longer.

"I've been known to stay up all night until at least 5 or 6 a.m. if a new feature is out, and I'm excited about it," she said.

Since beginning to play the game last August, she's reached an unusually high level 111 in the game--40 levels beyond where the game offers incentives in the form of newly unlocked features. And she's spent about $2,000 on in-game currency expenses--roughly $100 a month.

"I justify this as being my only source of entertainment, and I'm forgoing movies and dinners out, so it's OK," she told us.

Before playing FarmVille, Katie said, she spent 18 months playing Zynga's Mafia Wars game before quitting cold turkey. "I realized I hated it. It wasn't cute. It wasn't even fun--just addicted clicking," she said. Katie also said that she plays a handful of other online games including PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz, which can also be played on Facebook and as of April had an average play time of 43 minutes a day by its users.

Not the only farm in town
FarmVille's dominance of the social-farming games world hasn't gone unchallenged. We Rule, an iPhone and iPad-only game developed by San Francisco-based Ngmoco long after Zynga's FarmVille took hold, now has more than 3 million registered users. They've spent 2.2 billion minutes harvesting crops, erecting buildings, and sending jobs to fellow players. The current average time spent playing the game is 45 minutes per user, per day--well over FarmVille's 15 minutes.

More staggering than these numbers is the size and economic force these virtual worlds now command. "If you assume the world of We Rule has a sense of real-world scale to it, people have laid enough roads to wrap around the Earth three times," Ngmoco's vice president of marketing Clive Downie said in an interview.
We Rule users have invested several million real-world dollars in virtual currency called Mojo, Downie said, and the combined wealth and spending of We Rule users continues to grow. Estimating the worth of one piece of Mojo at around 20 cents, "the active Mojo in the system right now is worth well over $6.8 million," he said.

Downie was eager to point out that the company gives Mojo away for free as players ascend to higher levels and attain various promotions, just as Zynga does with its FarmVille players. Mojo is also sold in-game; its price per unit can vary based on how much of it a player is purchasing at a time. This lands anywhere from 99 cents for just five units, all the way up to $49.99 for a "vintage" bottle that contains 800 Mojo. In We Rule's sister game called "We Farm," which was build using the same engine and employs similar game techniques, its Mojo equivalent "Gro" can be purchased in bulk at up to $99.99 as an in-app purchase.

So what's the most someone has spent on Mojo?

Try more than $12,000. "We're very grateful to those people, obviously. We don't sit and laugh about that and say, 'Ha ha, aren't we lucky?' That's serious business. We're providing a serious piece of entertainment for people, and that's why we're passionate each and every single day," Downie said.

Spending that much money on any game raises a question of longevity--how long will these titles exist, especially when they rely so heavily on a server farm that might share its CPU cycles and capacity with future titles. Downie offers reassurances: "We are dedicated to this game as not just a forerunner in the freemium space, but also as a foundational franchise for Ngmoco,"he said. "I hope we're never done."

Hobby versus addiction
While the amount of money spent within these "freemium" games can be surprising, what scares some about them is the time people are putting into it and the real-life activities they can end up replacing.

"The best example of this is on WowDetox.com," author and addiction and recovery consultant Ryan G. Van Cleave told CNET. "The first entry on there is someone who missed his son's fifth birthday because he was on a guild raid. He spent all day playing WoW [World of Warcraft] and admits that he was more excited to play it than he was for his kid's birthday."

WowDetox is a place for recovering World of Warcraft addicts to share their stories with the same kind of openness and support you'd find at a drug counseling group. To date, there are now more than 45,000 such stories left by users. And while WoW differs from these social-farming games, in Van Cleave's opinion, they're not all that different. "In my mind, these games pose a bigger problem, because of that sense of community and belonging that they bring. Those are the games that are the most addictive," he said.

Van Cleave, who recently wrote "Unplugged: My journey into the dark world of video game addiction," says that part of the allure of any game--but especially social games--is that people live unexciting lives.

"The technology is so impressive too,. We're darn near virtual reality, which you can see with 3D movies in the theaters, and today's games are keeping up with that," he said. "The experience with games is similar--we have this dopamine flowing through our bodies, and we're seeking future instances of that rush. But you never get it like you do those first couple of times."

If that sounds like something you'd hear from a drug addict, it's because some of the symptoms and habits people develop with game addictions are shared. "The early warning signs of game addiction are behavioral," Van Cleave said. "If a person is kept from gaming, they become irritable. And just like an old lady who gets behind the wheel of a car and drives like an animal, you get these good kids or adults who play video games and exhibit destructive behavior."
Van Cleave explained that one of the biggest warning signs is when someone lies about how much they game. "With so many levels of deception and lying, you're in way deep," he said. That's harder with social gaming, where user activity is largely public; games like FarmVille show players' actions inside the Facebook news stream. Users can play the title with some level of secrecy, though they have the potential to reap much larger rewards by sharing those experiences with other users.

"I suppose you can play without your friends' help, but it would be seriously slower play, and without much of the cool features that you just absolutely need help from others to complete," Katie had said over our e-mail exchange. "Some people are just so concerned about keeping their Facebook [profile] private, and with just friends, but just get so frustrated because they can't level up or get anything done, and end up adding tons of strangers."

Katie said one of the main reasons she keeps coming back is for the friends she's made. Before FarmVille they'd all been strangers, but now they rely on her for help maintaining their own farms. "They can be entertaining at times, too," she said. Another factor is how much she's already invested--both in time and money--and that she simply likes to "be the best" at games.

Katie explained that her family has been supportive of her playtime. For instance, her husband brings dinner to her while she's still on the computer when he gets home from work. She's also got extra time on her hands while searching for a teaching job, which she fills not just with FarmVille play, but administrating a handful of fan and how-to sites, including an entire Farmville page on the how-to site Wonderhowto.com and one for Zynga's sister game FrontierVille. She also began her own FrontierVille site that she plans to help roll into a published eBook.

These exploits arguably fall into line with something Van Cleave had said about how people can be heavy gamers and still find balance. "I know plenty of people with other activities and interests, their health, family, friends, and work, and who game 10 to 25 hours a week. And on top of that, they're good parents, they have a good job. That sounds pretty healthy to me," he said.

But that doesn't mean it works for everyone. "It's really going to be the person and the dangers. The hard thing going forward is to get society to the point where people get the courage to come out and say they have a problem and not get laughed at," said Van Cleave.

Katie says she might one day give up her FarmVille kick, but not just yet.

"I've had a few friends say 'bye' to the game so they could get back to 'real life.' I'm wondering when I'll get there," she said. "But with the blogs now, too, I'm in it for quite a while longer."

Josh Lowensohn writes about Web start-ups, video games, multimedia tools, and the occasional robot. He joined CNET in 2006, and posts to the Web Crawler and Webware blogs. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh.